The results of orthotopic heart transplantation using the bicaval technique

Abstract

Circulatory failure, which develops in the final stages of the course of the most heart diseases, is a link in the progressive process. This process is accompanied by a significant decrease in the quality of life, as well as high disability and mortality. Heart transplantation increases the survival of patients with chronic heart failure, increases tolerance to physical exertion, improves the quality of life of patients and allows most of them to return to vigorous activity. Aim. The work is devoted to the analysis of the results of orthotopic heart transplantation in patients with a progressive course of chronic heart failure that cannot be treated conservatively. Materials and methods. We analyzed the clinical course of heart transplants in 55 patients. There were 46 (83.6 %) men and 9 (16.4 %) women among the recipients. The average age was 46.0 ± 10.0 years. Results. The result of the conducted retrospective study revealed that in-hospital (early) and one-year (longterm) survival among patients in our study was 92.7 % and 81.8 %, respectively. Conclusions. Heart transplantation is the most effective method of treatment for terminal heart failure. The quality of life of heart transplant patients improves significantly after surgery and is the main factor in the development of heart transplantation nowadays. The main causes of death were acute graft dysfunction, rejection reactions, and coronary heart disease of the transplanted heart. Problems related to cardiac graft dysfunction and rejection in the early and long-term period still need to be definitively resolved.

Keywords

• heart transplantation
• chronic heart failure